Parking Concerns on Perry Street

October 4, 2013 0 Comments

Over the past several months, neighbors along Perry Street between West Third and West Fifth Avenues have expressed numerous concerns with the parking situation in the area. At the root of their concerns is the contracted construction work going on in and around OSU’s campus and hospital. Contractors employed to do the work do not have access to free on-campus parking, so many of them have been using the streets adjacent to campus—including those in Harrison West—as a close, and free, alternative.

With the influx of contractors have come a number of problems including an increase in litter, early morning noise, open container violations and a degrading of local residents’ ability to park near their homes, especially during the daytime hours. Construction is scheduled to continue through at least the end of 2014.

Residents contacted the general contractor and the OSU Medical Center to alert them to the issue. The contractor sent a supervisor to observe the situation, but he witnessed no wrongdoing. Neither party was willing to take additional actions to reduce the stress on residential parking in the area other than to pass resident concerns on to employees and to reprimand any employees they caught violating the law. The Harrison West Society helped to place on flyers on cars produced by the neighbors informing the car owners of the disruptions they were causing in the area.

Fed up, one neighbor on Perry decided to take action. She organized a petition drive and gained enough signatures to apply to the city to change the parking status in the ares. Her petition asks the city to limit parking on Perry between West Third and West Fifth to permit-only between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m., Monday through Friday.

The city’s Department of Public Service recently informed the Harrison West Society that the petition signatures have been verified, that the appropriate traffic studies on Perry Street have been completed and that the application for permit parking meets the city’s requirements. The Transportation and Pedestrian Commission will schedule a hearing on the application—the final step before the application is approved or denied. Because the situation is likely temporary, a city representative has requested that the applicant, a Short North Civic Association representative and a representative from the city discuss the issue before the Transportation and Pedestrian Commission hears the matter.

Some residents on Vermont Place want to contest the permit-parking plan. They are concerned that it will only push the problem onto Vermont and other neighboring streets. One suggestion has been to limit the permit-only area to the east side of Perry, thus allowing open parking on the west side of the street. This would help to reduce the dispersion of visiting vehicles onto neighboring streets. Until the city schedules that meeting with the neighborhood representatives, the permit is at a standstill. We will continue to report any news as we hear it.

This matter will be discussed further at the next Harrison West Society meeting, which is scheduled for October 16 at 7 p.m. at the Harrison Park Condos Community Center.